Nebuchadnezzar is chiefly remembered today for inaugurating a great building program in Babylon. Attempting to rebuild the empire of Hammurabi, he restored old temples and constructed new buildings throughout Babylonia. He rebuilt Babylon, enlarging it and making it far more splendid than it had ever been. He also embellished it with the famous Hanging Gardens, one of the seven wonders of the world. The gardens were reputedly built as a gift for his wife, a Median princess named Amyitis, so she would not miss the landscape of her homeland. The Hanging Gardens were famous in the ancient world and were mentioned in the works of several later Greek writers, including Strabo and Diodorus Siculus. However, present-day archaeological excavations have been unable to locate the gardens.
After Nebuchadnezzar’s death in 562 BCE, revival efforts were lost in a series of power struggles. In 556 BCE, an
Elderly general named Nabonidus took the throne. He is a mysterious figure. Only three years into his reign, he left Babylon in the care of his son Belshazzar and went to live in Teiman in the Arabian Desert. Ten years later, he returned to Babylon, but his reign was doomed. In 539 BCE, Cyrus, king of Persia, invaded Babylonia. Nabonidus fled, but he and his son were both captured and killed. The Persians captured Babylon without resistance. Babylonia was annexed, becoming a province of the Persian Empire. Its days as an independent realm were at an end.
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, depicted here in an 18th-century-CE engraving, are believed to have been built by King Nebuchadnezzar II to ease the homesickness of his bride.
See also:
The Assyrians (page 102) • The Hittites (page 78) • The Persians (page 126) • The Sumerians (page 46)
World History
